I Like the Way This is Going
by tai-chi-leigh
Summary: In which Annabeth is stuck in the changing room and Percy is the only employee in the store. Title credit to the Eels. Rated T for language and suggestive themes. Percabeth oneshot. AU.


**A/N: Please check out my Tumblr tai-chi-leigh! Also, just a reminder that I changed my username from leighbenz9000 to tai-chi-leigh. Sorry for the confusion.**

**This is a small story while we wait for my work-in-progress currently at 11k words. It'll be up in the next week (hopefully).**

**Title credit to the Eels. ****Enjoy!**

How Annabeth had managed to get the dress on was a miracle in and of itself—a circus act, really. She blames it on years of gym classes when she was younger and incredible arm flexibility, which must be genetic.

But now she's trapped in the changing room, and no matter what angle she tries to bend backwards, sideways, or upside-down, she can't—for the life of her—manage to unzip the dress that's practically plastered to her skin it's so tight.

The last thing she wants to do is ask the dressing room attendant to unzip the dress for her, but she has already spent a good twenty minutes struggling and it's time to face the fact that the dress isn't coming off on its own. Plus, why would she ever want to miss out on publically embarrassing herself when the opportunity presents itself?

Biting her bottom lip, she opens the wooden door to the changing room and peers around the edge toward the front desk, her cheeks already warm from the blush on her face. And curse her luck, the old lady who was there just minutes ago is gone, and a young man has taken her place.

She debates retreating back into the safety of her changing room—she has claimed it as hers after spending so much time in it—but it's already past five and she has a dinner meeting that ideally she should make it to in a dress that's actually her size.

So she clears her throat, and the man, who's busy folding clothes and humming, turns her way, a friendly smile on his face. Annabeth gestures for him to come over, trying to make as little of a scene as possible.

He looks behind him, confused as to whom she's talking to, which she almost laughs at because there's no one else in the changing room. Instead, she narrows her glare, so he points at his chest and she nods, motioning again for him to walk over to her dressing room.

His eyes widen and he takes a step back.

"You want me to come over there?" he asks, his expression a cross between astonished and embarrassed himself. He looks objectified, as if she's asking something unfathomable.

Annabeth rolls her eyes and leans against the doorframe.

"You work here, don't you?"

He nods, still looking confused. Naturally, she has to deal with someone who's going to make the situation as awkward as humanly possible.

"So can you help me with this?" she draws out each word to make it easier to understand, still keeping her voice hushed.

"Uh- yeah- of course. Right. I'll just come over to help now." He stumbles over his words and Annabeth feels slightly better about her embarrassment when she sees that his cheeks are a much brighter shade of pink than hers. At least she's not going through the humiliation alone.

He puts down the clothes he was folding and makes his way over to her, weaving around racks of clothes in the aisle. When he's a few feet away from her stall he freezes, like he's scared to come any closer.

Annabeth sighs. Better to get this over with quickly.

"I can't reach the zipper to this dress and I was wondering if you'd help me take it off."

His blush just intensifies, and he rubs the back of his neck at the request.

"You mean—you want me to…"

Annabeth arches an eyebrow.

"This is only as awkward as you make it," she cuts him off.

At that, he breaks into a grin.

"You want me to undress you?"

Annabeth huffs at his smirk. "I mean, I'm open to a better suggestion. And I personally find it a bit ridiculous that there are only male workers in the changing room."

He shrugs, his blush gone and his smile even wider. Now Annabeth is the one to feel the heat on her face get warmer.

"No one ever comes in this store so we had staff reductions. Sorry."

Her embarrassment turns to annoyance. She just wants to get out of here, and he won't stop looking at her with that stupid smile.

"So can you—um—"

"Undress you?"

"Unzip my dress," she corrects.

"Or in other words, undress you. Literally." His eyes light up at the pun, which he seems to find very amusing. She decides that it's not worth arguing.

"Not funny," she groans.

"Funny. And turn around."

She turns around and lifts up her hair, exposing the zipper that is the source of the problem. He pulls it down and she can feel his breath on her neck as he laughs.

She clenches her jaw, and the sound of the zipper is excruciatingly loud and slow, as if he's drawing out her discomfort. Which wouldn't surprise her at all.

He pauses halfway.

"Would you like to hear my theory?"

"No."

"I think this is all a ploy," he continues anyway. She's facing the inside of the changing room, but there's a mirror so she's glad he's able to see her glaring at him.

"A ploy?" She twists for the zipper herself, but his arms are blocking her from reaching it.

"Well, if you got the dress on by yourself, then by that logic you should be able to get it off on your own, too."

"You're right. I just try to pick up guys by pretending I can't undress myself in changing rooms. I'm hopelessly single and lonely. But if you don't mind hurrying up a bit, I'd like to get home to feed my eight cats."

"Just eight?" he teases lightly.

"One of them is having kittens, so I expect around eleven soon." And she can't believe she's actually playing along with this.

He finishes unzipping her and she turns around to face him. His eyes are sparkling and he's smiling so wide that they crinkle around the edges. The look he's giving her makes her stomach do flips and she shifts backwards, not sure what the feeling means.

"Stop."

"Stop what?" he asks innocently, his eyes still dancing.

"I'm reporting you. This is inadequate customer service."

He places his hand over his heart and feigns hurt.

"_Inadequate_? You call my unzipping job inadequate?"

"Mediocre at best."

"Seems like I need more practice." His cheeks are pink again and he gives her a bashful smile, which she finds oddly endearing despite the suggestion he just made.

"You do," Annabeth hums, and oh shit, she somehow crossed the line into flirting back. But who can blame her? He's seriously attractive.

He halts for a moment, his eyebrows creasing together in a nice way, as if he's surprised at her response. When he opens his mouth a few moments later and rubs the back of his neck with his hand, and Annabeth just _knows_ he's about to ask her out.

"So, are you busy later or—"

"I am."

"Oh. Okay."

He drops his gaze to her feet and the entire store is silent for a moment too long to be comfortable.

"You know—" she looks at his nametag, "Perseus—"

"Percy."

"Percy. I'm Annabeth. So there's this new place downtown for drinks that I hear is great and if I'm going to have eleven cats that's quite a headache so maybe…"

He laughs loudly now, his voice fills up the store and something inside of Annabeth's chest feels more whole, too. Despite the fact that she's still standing, unzipped, in a store changing room.

"Eight o'clock this Friday?" he asks.

"Sure, write down your phone number for me."

He walks back over to his desk and she goes back into the dressing room, _finally_ taking off the dress. Annabeth quickly changes into her clothing and exits her changing room one last time, feeling almost nostalgic at the parting.

She tosses the dress onto the rack, and Percy catches her eye as she turns around. He hands her a piece of paper with his phone number and a smiley face written in messy scrawl. Wordlessly, she takes the paper, the last vestiges of embarrassment wearing off in her rush to leave. She gives him a half smile and has one foot out the door before—

"Oh, and Annabeth?" He lingers on her name for a second, as if he's testing it out, like it's foreign in his mouth.

"Yeah?" She turns around, regretting it as soon as she sees the smug expression on his face. A silent laugh shakes through him.

"Wear a shirt that's cutout. You have a nice back."

She slams the door behind her and can feel his eyes on her as she walks down the street and turns the corner. But this time she has a smile on her face, and she's pretty sure it'll stay there for the rest of the week.


End file.
